Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik departed for the United Arab Emirates on the 24th as President Lee Jae-myung's special envoy for strategic economic cooperation, stating he would "work to produce tangible results."
Kang made the remarks on his X (formerly Twitter) account as he headed to the UAE. He explained, "I am departing on a three-day trip for follow-up measures and working-level consultations from the summit held during APEC last October and the state visit to the UAE in November, as well as to reciprocate Administrator Khaldoon's visit to Korea in January this year."
He emphasized, "I will work to expand cooperation in defense, artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, and K-culture, and particularly to produce tangible results where Korea and the UAE combine technology and capital to jointly advance into third countries."
During the summit held on the occasion of the UAE state visit to Korea last November, the two countries agreed to establish a future-oriented cooperation framework in key strategic areas including defense, AI, nuclear energy, public health and medicine, food security, and cultural exchange. At a local briefing at the time, Kang said, "This will increase the possibility of our defense companies securing orders worth more than $15 billion."
The two countries also agreed to explore ways to expand the "Barakah Nuclear Power Plant" model to the global nuclear market. In the AI sector, the Korean government and companies agreed to participate in the UAE's large-scale AI data center "Stargate Project." Through this visit, Kang is expected to hold concrete and advanced discussions on the project.